by Alexandra Edwards

Here at TFL headquarters, we’ve discussed several ways to write about the Batman soundtrack — not the Danny Elfman score but the all-Prince album entitled Batman released in conjunction with the film.  It is, we find, one of the strangest aspects of Burton’s whole project.  Was it all an elaborate pop-art joke?  Did Prince just make the thing because he was told to?  And if so, why the hell is he running around the “Batdance” video dressed as both Batman and the Joker?  And who told him it was a good idea to do a dance number in full-out superhero costume?

Wikipedia tells us that, “As a Warner Bros. stablemate, Prince’s involvement in the soundtrack was designed to leverage the media company’s contract-bound talent as well as fulfill the artist’s need for a commercial (if not critical) revival.”  And yet, the album spent 6 weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts; the public responded to it both positively and strongly.

We will likely never truly unravel the mystery of the Batman album and all its oddities.  Instead, we’ll just leave you with the aforementioned, stunningly strange video for “Batdance,” as well as a more recent work inspired by it.